LPL Street View: How Confident America Really Is

Posted by lplresearch Economic Blog As the US economy transitions from lockdowns—where 90% of Americans were under a stay-at-home order—to continued reopening, we assess the state of American consumer confidence to spend despite the persistent COVID-19 outbreak. Reopening the economy should, in theory, clear the runway for takeoff, but consumers need the confidence to spend. “While […]

October 28, 2020

GDP Bounces Back

Posted by lplresearch Economic Blog The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns triggered the largest quarter over-quarter decline in gross domestic product (GDP) since WWII, so perhaps it comes as no surprise that the following quarter tallied the sharpest rebound in that same time period. GDP expanded 33.1% on an annualized basis in the third […]

October 29, 2020

An Election Pattern You Might Not Know About

Posted by lplresearch Economic Blog With Election Day a mere five days away, we at LPL Research thought we would add one last election forecaster to the mix of what we’ve presented over the last several months—as much because of what it might tell us about the American electorate as what it might tell us about […]

October 30, 2020

Vote (If You Haven’t Already)

Posted by lplresearch Economic Blog 2020 has certainly been a bizarre year, and perhaps we have finally arrived at the culminating event—the US presidential election. While every election may be characterized as a major turning point in our country’s history, the context of the ongoing global pandemic makes a particularly compelling case for this year’s election. […]

November 3, 2020

2 Post-Election Charts You Need to See

Posted by lplresearch Market Blog The election is over, but the questions are mounting. We don’t know who will be the next president as of Wednesday morning, but we do know that stocks tend to do well the final two months of an election year. “Once the uncertainty is over, stocks tend to rally in November and […]

November 4, 2020

10 Post-Election Reactions We Are Watching

Posted by lplresearch Market Blog   As of Thursday morning, a winner to the 2020 presidential election has yet to be “officially” declared as several battleground states have yet to be called. Even as more clarity emerges from remaining votes being counted in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania today and tomorrow, recounts and legal challenges could draw […]

November 5, 2020

Job Growth Continues as COVID-19 Cases Rise

Posted by lplresearch Economic Blog The US labor market shrugged off election uncertainty and continued to add jobs in October. Despite the waning effects of fiscal stimulus and rising COVID-19 cases, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy added 638,000 jobs, ahead of Bloomberg survey estimates calling for 580,000. The headline number was […]

November 6, 2020

3 Election Charts That Caught Our Attention

Posted by lplresearch Market Blog Stocks just had their best week since April, with the S&P 500 Index incredibly a chip shot away from new all-time highs. Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States, but markets are confident Republicans will maintain the Senate, and this means gridlock in Washington. Remember, gridlock is […]

November 9, 2020

What’s Next for Bond Markets After the Election

Posted by lplresearch Economic Blog Bond markets have had quite a ride since Election Day. The 10-year Treasury yield had been climbing very slowly in the months leading up to the election as the economy improved, but possibly also in anticipation of a potential Democratic sweep that could lead to a larger stimulus package. As shown […]

November 12, 2020

Earnings Rebound Picking up Speed

Market Blog Third quarter earnings season has been outstanding relative to expectations by many measures. Some of the highlights: S&P 500 Index earnings are tracking to a 7.5% year-over-year decline, as shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, more than 14 percentage points above expectations when earnings season began. View enlarged chart. If the […]